These gait-retraining changes, such as adopting a non-rearfoot strike and increasing stride frequency, have been found to have positive effects on a risk of injury.
If age-associated changes occur in multiple systems (e.g., vision, balance), depression may further contribute to fall risk by increasing stride variability and exacerbating instability.
Three subjects with initially slow gait velocity improved to within normal limits by demonstrating increased stride length.
Increasing BWS increased stride length (p < 0.02) and flight duration (p < 0.01) and decreased stride rate (p < 0.01) and contact time (p < 0.01) in small-large magnitudes.
Concurrently to the dual-task related decrease in stride velocity, an increased stride-to-stride variability has been observed and interpreted as interference caused by competing demands for attention resources.
In general, we found that increasing BWS on a LBPPT increased stride length and flight duration and decreased stride rate and contact time while attenuating a variety of physiological characteristics at a range of treadmill velocities.
The results showed that obstacle clearance is associated with the reorganization of the basic step pattern resulting in increased stride length of all limbs, increased duration of the swing phase of the hindlimbs only, and the appearance of two quadrupedal stance phases.
However, a study of racing Quarter horses at the gallop showed that the use of a whip on the shoulder of the leading forelimb, in rhythm with the stride, reduced stride length and increased stride frequency without increasing speed [7].
The latter would not only increase stride length but also allow easier passage through dense vegetation and provide a high vantage point to spot prey, both adaptations reflected in modern avian terrestrial stalkers [104].
Their skeletons reveal atypically long femora and wing metacarpals that serve to lengthen the limbs for increased stride efficiency, while their pedal bones are unusually robust (Fig. 4; [32], [26], [26]).
